A senior adviser to French President Nicolas Sarkozy has told French paper Le Parisien that France remains against any hostile bid for Societe Generale, the French bank hit by a trading scandal.
In an interview due to be published on Sunday, Sarkozy's chief of staff Claude Gueant said France preferred a "friendly" solution for SocGen should SocGen end up as a bid target.
"For the public authorities, one thing is clear: a friendly solution would be preferable to a hostile attack from any kind of financial establishment," Gueant was quoted as saying. He also criticised SocGen for not having alerted Sarkozy sooner to its problems.